Talking Points
by unnafraher
Summary: In the months between the last threat and the beginning of the new, things happened. Sometimes, Yuusei and Aki just happened to be at the same café to talk about them. -YuuseixAki in varying degrees, multi-part-
1. Funny Seeing You Here

Disclaimer: I don't own _Yu-Gi-Oh! DM 5D's _or any characters used herein. This is for fun, not profit; cross my heart and hope to die.

* * *

People knew her. This she knew. She wouldn't deny it, couldn't really deny it. Because when she went out these days there always would be the awkward stares, the furtive gestures, the obvious whispers.

And really, she could not say she minded any of it at all. Not anymore, not since the muttered name had become Izayoi Aki.

_Izayoi Aki. _Not Black Rose Witch. No more venom, hatred, or bitterness, just curiosity, questioning, and mild disbelief.

She couldn't find it within herself to analyse this, one of the many smaller, personal changes in the vast shifts occurring all around her. Compared with the bridge now spanning between the city and Satellite, this bridge between her and others was not really...that much.

But still.

Aki yawned a bit, tightened her grip on the paper cup in her hand as she recalled herself to the moment. An advantage about being known (a bit of a quirk, perhaps): she was known as this café, so she only had to walk up to the counter, for any employee on duty would know what she wanted. As for newbies, it only took them one visit to learn. Undeniably, it was because no-one else ever ordered what she did, exactly how she did. Even in drink choices, she was unique.

With closed eyes she sipped, a tiny stream of warm cinnamon tickled her tongue. People seated at tables around her chattered. Cars drove by, the metallic, constant din of a city, almost vibrating in the air. Someone won a duel, shouted. It was a warm day with a small breeze, almost perfect weather that was somewhere between a tad too hot and a tad too chilly. She swallowed and exhaled.

Yes, life was good like this—was getting good, now—and this moment was proof of that. It was peaceful, it was good, it was utterly normal—normal people who had normal routines, for them it was normal for people to be familiar with what they liked. In this full moment there was just her, her empty table, and a heart that could have fluttered, if skipping a beat was called that. Hopefully there would be more moments like this as things, day by day, got a little bit easier.

She opened her eyes. A sight, a delayed reaction; was that really who she thought it was moving through the crowd? That hair, a juxtaposition of adamant black and gallant yellow. Aki closed her eyes once more, then opened them. Scanned the inside of the café and—yes, it was. There he was, standing a bit to the side, maybe queuing, maybe not. Out of everyone there only she could tell that he was a bit confused. Or not confused, just uncertain. She couldn't see his face, but she could see the way his head slightly inclined, the way his fists were almost clenched.

He was looking for something. Trying to find what he could order from the menu.

She, unconsciously, smiled a wan smile. She drunk from her cup again, nursing the tea for a while as she looked over the rim at him, watching the line grow shorter as each order was taken. Finally, his turn, and she relaxed. Her cup had been emptied long ago.

So she tipped it to one side and began to idly spin it with one hand, the whole while keeping it balanced on its edge. She could feel where the metal of the patio chair was beginning to make imprints in her thigh. Shifting, images of red lines and swirls filtered through her mind. They blurred and uncoiled, and began to become something else. Her birthmark—she placed a hand on her arm, looked down, and began to drift along the lines.

"Aki?"

She looked up, then down. "Yuusei."

"Hey."

"I didn't know you came here." Aki removed her hand from her arm—ignored the imaginary heat she felt there because she could see that Yuusei _wasn't_ in trouble—and fiddled with her cup some more.

"I don't. Not very often," Yuusei said.

"Well—well, yes. I haven't seen you, so it mustn't be very often."

Yuusei shook his head. "No."

A silence filled with the talk of those around them. She couldn't see what he had ordered because his cup was unmarked, but she did note that there was no steam rising from it.

Aki shrugged. "I'm sure you're keeping busy," she said. She looked up, looked at him—this person who knew her so well—for a while. No dark circles under his eyes, but then he never seemed tired, even if he always on the move. Always moving, despite finally earning a place to settle in for a while. "Why don't you sit down and tell me about it?"

So Yuusei did.


	2. A Man and His Milk

It had become one of those evenings, the kind that aren't sure if they are dawn or dusk, the beginning or the end. The sky was a flat grey, uniform but for a few swathes of unobtrusive lavender. If there had have been any clouds out, they would have been bathed a soft pink.

But there were none, not any that Aki could see. So, after a while, she put her head down, focussing on the pattern of her uniform skirt, replacing the grey of the sky for the grey of the cement. Because of the waning light, the ground seemed to be glowing, slightly. The drink her in hand swirled as she rolled the cup around in her hand. The few people at the tables around her chattered, but that wasn't in her world. Nothing was there save herself, the hushed silence, and the faintly incandescent grey.

Eventually, she looked up. Around her everything was softer, less defined. Details dissipated in the lack of proper lighting, making everything so much simpler. Easier to see, too, easier to hold in her mind. Slowly, a thought began to stir. Easier....better. There were fewer things to get caught up in.

She took a sip and frowned at her cup. Lukewarm was not what she had expected—how long had she been sitting there, then? Looking around allowed her gather that it had been for a considerable amount of time, for those sitting at nearby tables were not the faces she had seen when she herself had sat down.

A streetlight flickered on, though she could still discern colours well enough—there was red of her jumper, the brown of the table. Aki frowned once more and was closed to sighing when someone walked up behind her.

"Hey, Aki."

Aki didn't need to turn around to know who it was—it was so obvious, that lilt of his, that singular voice that could call her back from the edge.

"Yuusei. Here again?" She relaxed her forehead into her palm.

Yuusei sat down opposite from her, waiting. He said nothing while she rubbed circles on her temples.

"Stressed? How is school going for you?"

For a moment, there was nothing, only considering. Then Aki looked up, smiled wanly. She pictured her classes, the people she talked to in them. Sometimes, but she was talking more often, perhaps even making a friend or two. Definitely smiling more often. "Just tired. I'm doing well. It's easier, now—everything is."

Yuusei nodded. "I can imagine."

"Rua and Ruka are doing well, too," Aki offered. She waited to see if Yuusei was interested in them, though she knew that he was. "Ever since you put that professor in his place, especially Rua. He brags about being your friend sometimes."

Aki watched Yuusei smile in a way that was utterly unreadable. "It's good to be proud of your bonds." A vague answered that hinted at his personal philosophy without betraying anything; he was so enigmatic sometimes, hard to read and hard to know.

"Yes, but...well, he is very proud."

"Mmm...."

With the conversation heading towards a wall (somehow that didn't feel right, but why?), Aki allowed her eyes to wander. She noted the drink Yuusei had set down with him. He had bought something this time, hadn't he? But. No steam. Had they been sitting down together that long, then? This time, too, had she and time slipped away?

"Hey, Yuusei?"

"Yeah?"

Aki made a gesture, indicating the cup next to Yuusei. "What is that?"

"Milk."

"Milk?" Aki's eyebrows rose a little.

Yuusei, his nonchalance smooth, answered, "yes, milk."

"Huh."

"Would you like some?"

Aki lowered and shook her head. "No thanks. If it was hot, maybe." The evening was becoming just a touch cold.

He paused for a moment, thinking this over. "Hot milk is for helping someone sleep, isn't it?"

"I guess. When I was little, I got a hot glass or two...." And then, Aki had an idea. Without so much as a word she got up and turned towards the storefront of Duelist's Coffee. From what she could see there weren't many customers—this wouldn't take long. A white, thumbnail moon had finally risen over the buildings, holding vigil over the streetlights that now glowed above the evening commuters.

"Where are you going?" Yuusei asked, shifting a little bit, though he was not the least bit unsettled.

Aki didn't look back. "Inside to get something. Wait here."

So he did, and she came back with cookies.


	3. Fixing as a Favour

The problem with being nervous was this: as if it didn't already make her awkward enough, her unfamiliarity with the feeling of anxiety made her even more anxious, and thus more awkward. All in all, she was a restless mess whose annoyance at herself was the only thing keeping her features drawn tight and betraying only a tiny, tiny hint of the tension simmering beneath her façade.

She tried to take a deep breath. But she realised that that might be taken as a sign of agitation, and so her breath caught in her chest. She waited. Then she hiccupped. Someone in the crowd around her blessed her, thinking she had coughed.

Aki then continued to simply stand there, not responding, occupied by herself. She was standing on the curb, and this light was taking its sweet time changing, and so quite a number of people had gathered. Someone muttered and asked if the damned thing was working. Aki heard him, somehow, and thought _no, it is not, it needs to be fixed. _Maybe she said it out loud, too, for it seemed like everyone was paying attention to her even if no-one was looking at her. Something about being sandwiched between six impatient people made her claustrophobic.

Finally, the light changed, and she breathed out because she then had a cover and an excuse. One foot, then the other, and she was moving with the crowd across the street. Buoyed by the moving mass, her focus began to invert inwards. _This isn't any good, this is a stupid idea, why did I arrange this._

She hiccuped and frowned, but continued walking. Eventually, she made it to the Duelist's Coffee. The assigned meeting place. For a moment she grimaced at her hiccups that were no longer coming. Before she admitted that she no longer had anything to be miffed at, she looked up and allowed her eyes to scan the outside tables.

There was no need to will herself to look hard because that hair was so tell-tale, so salient. As she made her way over—reluctant, thinking to herself that _this was not a good idea, what was I thinking—_to the table Yuusei was occupying, she was careful to weave herself between the twisted labyrinth of tables and chairs. She managed to bump into no-one.

Yuusei welcomed her with a mild smile.

She tried to smile back, but tension pinched her muscles taut. Her greeting was barely above a mumble.

"It's good to see you too, Aki."

She nodded; so that was what she had said. Seated, she brought herself to look up and attempt to smile again. No dice, but she noted that he looked quite pleasant today, his eyes clear, shining their bright, precious purple. Her eyes were fitful, compared to his."Mmm. Thanks for coming out today, Yuusei."

"Of course. Would you like something to drink?"

Aki tilted her head--"Sure"--because she had expected him to get right down to business. Perhaps he had sensed her nerves and so tried to give her a chance to settle herself. Or maybe he was trying to be a bit roundabout. In any case, it just gave herself something else to be tense about while Yuusei got up and went inside. And wasn't Yuusei on a budget—wasn't this a splurge for him? She drummed her fingers, too occupied mentally to be waiting.

By the time he was back, she was no closer to figuring it out, just a little more stressed than she had been a few minutes ago. But she had called him here—asked him if he could perhaps fix this thing for her—and it had been her idea. It was her fault, and so she was mostly upset with herself. Mostly.

Some time passed; Aki's drink coolled, she sipped tentatively at it. She tried to think of nothing, but there was nothing but apprehension. The lump in her breast pocket felt heavy against her heart.

"So," Yuusei began after a while, "may I see it?" He held out his hand across the table, brown gloves covering his slim, outstretched fingers.

Aki nodded. "Yes," she said, fishing out the lump in her blazer. It was now heavy in her fist. "Here." She handed it over without looking at it. Though, when it was in his hands, her eyes followed it as though compelled by a magnetic force.

Yuusei opened his palm, exposing the locket to the afternoon sunlight. It gleamed as he snapped it open and Aki looked away.

"What's wrong with it?"

She shifted a bit. "The music won't play anymore." The happy people in the picture smiled up at the sun.

"Oh. It used to play, didn't it? That shouldn't be hard to fix." He flipped the locket closed and began to examine it. "Yes, not at all. The music box should be here, not at all hard to get to."

Aki thought that he was about to produce a screwdriver on the spot and repair it, but instead he pocketed it and looked at her. "I'll take it back to the shop. It should be done by tonight. If you want to pick it up."

"You don't have to work on it so soon, Yuusei. Take your time, I know that you're busy with your own things. Preparations." She took another sip from her cup and tried to smile once more. Instead, with a mix of emotions, she realised that Yuusei had already learned the drink she liked to drink.

"It'll only take half an hour, at most. Ten minutes if I can figure out how the gears were assembled."

"That's good," she said, and stiffened, then released like a balloon allowed to expel air, relieve pressure. Eyes widened by realisation—that this was hardly even an act of charity--were relaxed. The rigidness of her body melted away and her spine wilted inwards.

"It's not hard."

Aki nodded in a way that said _apparently. _"Mmm." As she took another sip of her tea—pleasantly warm now—she looked intently at him. "That's good, anyway. I'm sure that Misty will appreciate it."

He waved his hand, smiled as he dismissed the tempered gratitude. "It isn't a big thing."

_Apparently not,_ Aki thought, taking a long drink, _when you can fix anything_. Her thoughts were of the world, the city, Satellite, people—herself.

"Thank you, Yuusei."

They sat in silence a bit longer. Finally, Aki asked how things were going.

They were going well, thank you.


	4. About the Weather

Here's love for everyone who has read these pieces so far! Really, guys, it's amazing how much traffic I've gotten! Though, my thanks go to everyone who has reviewed so far--you have no idea how much your kind, kind words make my day.

* * *

There was wind. And not just any breeze—a true wind that blew between the buildings, got into every alley and stirred scarps of paper and trash. There was, too, a slight hint of salt with each gust.

This—together with the vague smell of rotten fish--told Aki that this wind was coming from the ocean; that, somewhere, there was a storm brewing. She imagined grey skies and roiling waves, birds screeching as they fled for land. But this didn't last long, of course, as she raised her head and crossed the street. The city sounds washed over her all at once, though the wind continued to tug at her blazer and skirt. When she reached the other side of the street, from the corner of her eyes she saw a plastic bag liberated—saw it lift higher and higher into the sky.

She shivered, and continued walking.

A set of gusts pushed her, momentarily, off of her course, almost toppled her. Aki, recovering from her missteps, lowered her head and wandered about whether or not Yuusei would want to sit outside. For, it seemed, whenever he waited for her at Duelist's Coffee he was waiting outside. Fair enough, since so far the weather—even in the evening—had been pleasant, if not pleasantly mild. But, from what she could remember, Yuusei, who ran around in pants and jacket just about everywhere, never seemed to be conscious of the weather. Perhaps not even aware of it, actually—would blustery conditions like this even register to him?

Probably not, but...well, she would just have to see.

With one block to go, she tried to focus on something else—how nice it would have been to wear proper stockings—but the wind pushed her slightly adrift once more. This time, with its smell: slightly salty and faintly metallic, overwhelmingly like Satellite. For a moment, she was overcome by a chill more unpleasant than any caused by any wind. Satellite—the weather had been dismal (at best) when she had been there, but that pall hadn't been natural, she knew. Rather, caused by...the Dark Signers, the opened gate. An artificial reverse of a natural force.

There had been sunny days before in Satellite before then, right...?

Then, there was the café. In sight and utterly deserted on the outside, utterly crowded on the inside.

Aki, her arms squeezing her torso, narrowed her eyes, scrutinising the mass of people swarmed in the shop. Looking—brunet, blond, brunet—for some sign before turning around for home. People shifted and she waited; finally, a break, and there Yuusei was, sitting with his back turned to her, leaning slightly over something before him.

Upon entering the store Aki had to stop a moment—had to realise how cold she was as she had to weave her way through a large ground of departing teenagers—but she was at the table soon enough. Sat down quickly, too, and silently, and only Yuusei would have noticed that all of a sudden he had his awaited company. He looked up from his book, and as he smiled Aki realised that his eyes were only a few shades away from a storm cloud.

"Hey, Yuusei," Aki said, shifting a bit as she set her schoolbag down. After pushing an envelope towards Yuusei, she put her hands in her lap and felt the goosebumps lightly—barely--prickling along her legs.

"Afternoon," he answered, turning his attention momentarily back to his book. He finished the passage, and in the meantime Aki sipped tentatively at the drink he had ordered for her. Steam curled delicately from the small hole in the lid, and for a time she just watched it rise.

"D-Wheel stuff?" Aki asked.

"Mm."

"You know, I thought you knew all of that already." How else would he have made his own D-Wheel—twice?

"Well," Yuusei began, looking up and placing his hands on the worn cover of the book, "I do."

"Oh. So then, why?"

"There is something I'm having trouble with." He made a vague gesture and, just barely, the corner of his mouth twitched.

"The explosions?"

"The explosions."

A moment passed in which the two of them drank from their respective drinks, Aki thinking of the swathes of black residue across the ceiling of Yuusei's new shop, out of a cleaning hand's reach.

"Are you pushing the machine too hard?"

"Not really." Yuusei put his cup down. "It's good, more or less, so this shouldn't be happening."

"Oh, I see." Aki considered that for a moment; this was probably the same...equipment Yuusei had always used. Or, something like that—what did she know about these things?—which had been available to him in Satellite. Knowing him, he had probably just moved his entire set-up over along to the city with him. At least, what hadn't been destroyed by the raids and earthquakes.

"Yuusei?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming."

"You're welcome," he said, smiling slightly—easily--and not at all taken aback by the switch. Though, he had a feeling that things were going to go somewhere else. Which was fine, of course.

Aki, her hands on the table, began, "really. You shouldn't spend money like this, should you? And you come, even in this weather."

"It's no big deal—not when you pay me back," he explained, waving his hand. "This weather, too, is no big deal."

The volume around them, by now, had dropped to a pleasant, tolerable din. Aki, flushed for a moment, put a hand on her head. Made sure that her hair wasn't completely unruly. (Hardly a strand was out of place.)

"So then....Satellite."

"Satellite?"

"The weather there."

"Like any other weather, not really different than here." Yuusei made another vague gesture, this time indicating around them—Neo Domino City.

Aki nodded and smiled, wanly. She realised that there was hardly any feeling in her fingertips—that the bare skin between her stockings and skirt had been warming her hands. "Of course. That makes sense."

"It does."

"So..."

"Yes?"

"Sorry," she said, "you're going to have to get cold on the way home."

Yuusei smiled again, but there was more—something more, something only she could appreciate. Something infectious enough to make her smile herself this time, and the heat welled from her core to the ends of her fingers. Though she was also embarrassed, or guilty or something, whatever would be appropriate for what she had done, when her own gales had cut—mentally and physically—at him. A hard memory; her mouth tightened suddenly, and her head lowered a touch.

"Ah..."

"Being hit by wind is no big deal."

"I guess not, is it?"

"No, not really. I got used to it in Satellite, probably. There wasn't anything to break the wind."

"Now that you mention it....I don't remember seeing anything."

And after that, Aki listened to Yuusei talk for fifteen minutes, attentive more than interactive, somewhat taken aback that Yuusei _was _talking like this. A few customers filtered in, but more shuffled out. By the time Yuusei had wrapped up—finished with a story of how haunting a dust storm looked ripping clouds of debris through toppled skyscrapers--, Aki's cup and the store were mostly empty.

When it was time to leave, without a single word of arrangement, Aki and Yuusei filed out together. Yuusei, unfazed by the weather, allowed his body to be a buffer. Aki, pushing close to him for a moment only, imagined the fierce storms this body had weathered.


	5. A New Third Wheel

To whom it may concern: I forgot how to write for a while there. But I'm good now, I think. I realised I needed to pretend some more.

Even if I'm not good enough to actually get anywhere, it's fun, and that is all that matters.

* * *

It had been raining a lot, lately, Aki thought to herself, standing outside of the warehouse Yuusei, with his friends, now resided in. Normally she would have wondered vaguely if Yuusei could really be home in such a place—in "Neo Domino", with all of its lingering connotations from his childhood. But now, not so much. Instead she thought to herself once more, _it has been raining suddenly lately, it is typhoon season_.

Typhoon season, bad weather—the reasons that Yuusei had invited her here for coffee.

The last time they had met together at Duellist's Coffee, he had said, "next time come over to our place."

But Yuusei hadn't given a reason why. She hadn't asked; now—even now, days later—she was trying to reason out that reason.

Bad weather.

That was why she was lingering outside even though she had left this place in a huff not more than twenty-four hours ago, righteously irate. She hovered near the door as the clock above announced six in the evening. The chirping of the cuckoo bird was a rude interlude into her thoughts—Aki started. She looked up, rubbed her arm, muttered something to herself about keeping people waiting.

And, with that, she went in.

Coming into the main room—the "workroom," complete with computers and a selection of D-Wheel tools—Aki became aware of the smell of the place, a familiar mixture of ramen, coffee, Duel Monsters cards, human sweat, and oil. The same scent that she sometimes caught when near Yuusei, she told herself.

She stopped for a moment, thinking about that thought. What he smelt like?

Immediately she began to search the place for something to distract her—not a very hard thing since, not too far away, sat the newest addition to Yuusei's "household" of friends. Bruno sat typing away as though another human being--and a guess no less--had not just entered the room.

Beside Bruno there was an extra chair pulled away from the desk, awaiting its occupant. There was also a computer on the desk humming to itself, keeping itself from hibernation in anticipation to resume working.

Aki stood there, and with every moment the staccato clacking of the keys became more and more like Chinese water torture. Her irritation mounting—_clickclickclickclickclick_ and how dare he _ignore me—_she actually flinched and had to move, and was about to lay a hand on his shoulder and make him acknowledge her presence, when suddenly there was someone calling her.

Down from the stairwell landing came her name and a greeting, all in a familiar voice—and Yuusei's words washed over her temper like a burst of cool air. She took a moment to conceal her relief before she turned around. But, instead of turning around to face and greet Yuusei, she walked straight up the stairs, past Yuusei, into the upstairs living quarters, and away from the belated greeting Bruno offered her

When Bruno saw that she had left and he was addressing empty air, he looked up to Yuusei.

"Don't worry about it," Yuusei said, shrugging. And then he too ascended into the living quarters.

Aki had made her way to the couch, and so Yuusei joined her there, sitting himself on the opposite end.

"Hey, Aki," Yuusei offered.

Aki, leaned back into the couch with her arms crossed, replied with a dry "hello."

"I wasn't expecting you today," he said. That did not mean she was not welcome; it was just a fact. Since he had started working on the programme with Bruno, he wasn't thinking about anything else, much less expecting it. That was just what happened when he got absorbed into something.

They sat there for a moment, in the silence.

"I wasn't expecting you to not be working on tha—your engine," she said, turning to face him. "But Bruno is."

"I was too, a moment ago."

This, Aki saw, was a chance to perhaps offer a test, a gauge to help her measure what exactly this all meant. Was she interrupting something? She leaned forward a little, and when she spoke she could imagine her words hanging in the air. "And now?"

"Now I'm talking to you." He paused for a moment, and looked behind him. "And then I'll get back to work."

"I see..." Aki said, and she looked to the side. There was a bookshelf there, on which were rows and rows of books—how to repair this, how to repair that, and, if she was seeing it correctly, a manual for a ramen cooker.

And then it hit her.

Why was she here?

"I'm sorry, Yuusei," she said shortly, getting up perhaps a little too hastily. "You're busy. And I—I figured out the physics problem by myself." Though she willed herself otherwise, she could feel that her face was becoming more and more flustered, that if she was lucky it would only be a faint red tinge at the moment that was lining her cheeks. "I'll be on my way--"

"Aki?" Yuusei tilted his head a little and looked like he was going to ask a question—and if he had have Aki would have answered—but he just shrugged. "Whatever you want."

"Yeah." She was on her way out. "Maybe we can have coffee again when you're not too busy, or when you can afford it."

She was about to descend the stairs, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her, for a moment. She turned around, and Yuusei and she were close together, their height difference accentuated by the claustrophobia of a threshold.

"Maybe," Yuusei said. "Or when things aren't so...."

Aki waited. For this, she could make all the time in the world.

"So...strained."

"Is Jack trying to be rich still?" she asked, one eyebrow raising, a little bit of the tension in her body redirecting itself elsewhere. Somehow, she could relax if this was Jack's fault, whatever this was.

"No, he's...trying to get a job. It's when we don't have to support four people on only one steady income. Three people is different than f--"

And that was all she needed to know, because she knew the story then: Bruno, even more of a pest than Jack, straining their resources as much as he was straining Yuusei's schedule.

"I see," Aki said as she descended the stairs. "Next time I'll just _bring _something to drink. For me it isn't a big deal."

Her exit was, of course, with appropriate flair—a pace that made her hair flip, a closing door that was almost slammed.

After she left, Yuusei just went back to work.


End file.
